


You'd Rather Lose

by atomiccourier



Series: Atom I.C. Courier [9]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Gen, it's another short fic but hey its something, topic of cannibalism mildly explored
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 02:30:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7916917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atomiccourier/pseuds/atomiccourier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It occurs to you like a slap in the face that losing to some stranger at roulette is a luxury compared to being eaten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'd Rather Lose

Of course it’s always 21. You’re nothing if not unoriginal, aren’t you?

 

The gambler two seats down who’d put her chip on 27 wins this round, and you can hear her chuckling haughtily over the other conversations around you. Whatever. You’ll get her next round. Or the next.

 

It occurs to you like a slap in the face that losing to some stranger at roulette is a luxury compared to being eaten.

 

This casino had hosted one of the more interesting adventures you’ve had on the strip.

 

You remember the first time you stood in front of the Ultra Luxe, not quite glowering up at the entrance. You didn’t, and still don't, and never did, have much of a sense of taste. Still, you thought the general aesthetic of the place went very much against it.

 

That’s a cannibalism joke. You’d understand if you could hear me. You’d probably laugh.

 

It’s easy to pick you out of the crowd, even then. Fancy is hard to pull off for a person who’s barely spent a month existing. It’s hard for Heck Gunderson too, which is why you find it easier to talk to him than anyone else. It’s how you learn about his missing son.

 

A problem. A wrinkle in the sheet. Take your fingers and smooth it out. Map out every little rise and fall. Flatten it. Your purpose.

 

You wander your way, with relative success, through the maze that is the Ultra Luxe, (Seriously, you just can’t figure out the logic that buildings are supposed to follow) to Marjorie. You start being able to feel the folds.

 

Cannibalism? You’d never have considered that was a thing that existed. Is it… frowned upon? Taboo? You obviously can’t ask her.

 

It’s at this point you decide it’s real hardcore investigation time and skip down the street to ask for some help from your ever so helpful companions.

 

Cass won’t touch a place like that with a ten foot pole. Boone says no. Lily would raise questions. Same with ED-E. Rex is always welcome. Arcade gives into your puppy-dog eyes, questioning aloud the ethics of convincing someone to do something less-than-legal by being particularly cute. You grin.

 

It’s here you start misremembering the order of events. At some point, you meet the grand cannibal himself at a desk, and get him to spill the beans in less than a minute. At some point, he runs like the coward he is out of the dining room while you stand on the podium, laughing so hard you fall off and Arcade has to make sure you don’t have a concussion from the landing. At some point, Rex jumps into the steamy pool, and you have a great time swimming around with him to kill time.

 

At some point, you discover, looking down a dark hallway, what human looks like sliced open like a pig, being illuminated by flamethrowers. At some point, you clutch Arcade across the chest and wheeze “ _ cannibals! _ ” at him. But only because that’s what you’re probably supposed to do.

 

“What happens to cannibals?” You ask Arcade later, looking out across the city from the huge, cocktail lounge windows. He assumes you’re talking about the health concerns, which is good, because it was supposed to be open ended like that.

 

You decide you’re very glad to not be one, and toss another chip onto the 21 space on the billard table. The lady laughs.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to take the time to point out how similar the phrase "At some [point]" is to "Atom"
> 
> This was hard, despite how short it is.
> 
> I hope I stuck to my style well enough. I like this way of writing.


End file.
